How To Deal With Internet Security Threats

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of IT specialist Wick Hill Group, examines the range of Internet security threats faced by companies today and advises on how to protect against them.

1. INTRODUCTION How to use the Internet while staying secure has always been a concern for businesses. Over the last couple of years there have been many changes in the Internet threat scenario. Most notably there has been a significant increase in the 'access anywhere/anytime culture' with a growth in social networking, a move to convergence solutions such as VoIP, a major increase in smartphone use, a growth in cloud computing, plus the 'consumerisation' of systems (i.e. the use of personal devices for company data).

2. OVERVIEW OF INTERNET THREATS. The range of security threats includes

* Operational threats, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, attacks on VoIP, the failure of cloud computing suppliers to secure your network, or security risks from remote workers.

* Newer threats such as social networking insecurity, web application threats, smartphone insecurity and poor security for converged voice/data applications on the network

3. HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST INTERNET THREATSThe basics that companies need to protect themselves in today's internet environment include:

Risk assessment/risk management. A risk assessment should be carried out BEFORE implementing additional aspects of internet use, to identify the risks and determine what, if anything, needs to be done to minimise them. It is important to regularly review all security policies. Recent history has shown that it is less expensive, easier and more efficient to deploy security at the beginning of any project than to try to "backfill" it. Oh yes, and it's more secure!

Staff training Educated staff are the first and main line of defence. Staff need to be brought on board, where security is concerned. The impetus needs to come from the top and be maintained.

Staying up to date A basic and key way of staying secure is to make sure you rapidly deploy software updates, such as operating system and browser updates. Make sure too that patches, particularly security patches, are installed as soon as available.

Anti-virus/anti-spywareAs a first line of defence, users should be educated to not open unknown attachments, which are a common source of viruses and spyware, and to be very cautious about clicking on any links.

Anti-virus systems should be behaviour-based and updated automatically in the background. Many anti-virus solutions also incorporate anti-spyware elements, to help cope with problems such as the theft of user names and passwords. Suppliers include Kaspersky Lab, VIPRE Business, Norton, McAfee and Symantec. Anti-spyware suppliers include Barracuda Networks and WebRoot. Free anti-spyware solutions, such as Spybot, are also available.

Firewalls Firewalls are now almost universally deployed. All messages entering or leaving the network pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

A huge range of firewalls is available today from companies such as Check Point, Nortel, Nokia and WatchGuard. Firewalls are also available as part of a unified threat management appliance (UTM) or an extensible threat management (XTM) appliance, where a firewall is combined with other security functions, including (in many cases) web application firewalling (WAF), sometimes also known as deep packet inspection (DPI).

AuthenticationThe best way to prevent unauthorised access is through authentication.

Single factor authentication involves the use of passwords only, ranging from weak to complex. It has a number of insecurities and is highly vulnerable to the same password being used for multiple applications (including social networking), increasing the risk that your business applications security could be breached.

Strong two factor authentication comprises something you know (a password) and something you have (e.g. a hardware token, which can produce a time limited one time password, a soft token (for example a PIN sent to a mobile phone) or a swipe card). Companies including VASCO, RSA and CRYPTOCard provide strong two factor authentication solutions. While there are still risks with this approach, it provides significantly improved security at a comparatively low cost

Biometric authentication, involving personal elements such as fingerprint or iris recognition, is more appropriate for high security applications, such as financial or defence.

Remote user security Encrypted virtual private networks (VPNs), either IPsec or SSL, are the typical solution for secure branch to head office communications, for communications between companies and third parties such as suppliers, and for secure communications between remote/mobile workers and head office/branches. This should be done, using a minimum of two-factor authentication.

Branch offices can install low-cost remote UTMs which incorporate VPNs and these can be centrally administered, typically by the head office. Companies such as WatchGuard, Check Point and NETASQ provide remote, centrally manageable IPsec and SSL VPN solutions.

Another method of securing remote and mobile users is endpoint security (EPS). Coupled with central management, it can ensure that firewall, anti-virus and security patches are used. A range of solutions is available from companies such as Check Point, GFI Software, Kaspersky Lab and Citrix.

With the growth of remote working, managing the remote worker network securely has become increasingly difficult and costly. To complicate matters, many employees are using their own PCs, laptops and smartphones to link to the company.

This carries a significant risk of these devices being infected by spyware, etc. and introduced to the network. Additionally, data on them could be unprotected. Coupled with this, there is the high cost of providing, supporting, patching and managing company supplied devices.

One solution is for the employer to give the employee an allowance to buy their own PC or laptop and to supply them with a secure, hardware encrypted flash drive with embedded security software.

This creates a secure tunnel, stronger than an SSL VPN, between the remote worker's PC and the applications on the home network. File transfer between the PC hosting the flash drive, and the corporate network, is strictly controlled. The use of applications and programmes too is subject to the applied security policy.

These types of solutions essentially provide a secure, virtual environment, irrespective of the security status of the users PC/Laptop. They include solutions from Check Point (Abra) and IronKey, as well as the different approach of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) from Citrix and VMware.

Smartphone growth presents another remote access security risk. Staff are increasingly using them to retrieve email and use other applications on the move.

CIO, CTO & Developer Resources

But they remain largely unprotected and have the potential to put the whole network at risk through unauthorised access, particularly as they are so easily lost or stolen. Wi-Fi roaming out of the office, creates a number of security risks, including the risk of identity and security credentials being lost or stolen.

Because of the dangers, smartphones should be treated just like PCs, when it comes to securing them.

A lot can be done through carrying out a number of simple preventative actions. For example, use the PIN function to secure the phone, install data wiping facilities, employ time-out policies, and install GPS tracking so the phone can be located if stolen. Authentication to the network from smartphones is essential.

Specific smartphone security solutions are also available from suppliers such as Kaspersky Lab, Sipera, CRYPTOCard and Check Point.

Wireless security The use of wireless has grown significantly in the last few years and is now endemic, with smartphones increasingly being used to connect to wireless.

Authentication is absolutely crucial in this environment and strong two factor authentication should be used for access to all confidential internal data, from wireless pcs, laptops and smartphones. Sensitive data should not be held on a smartphone or wireless laptops, unless encrypted.

IPSec or SSL encrypted VPNs should be used for all wireless communications between head office and remote locations, such as branch offices, mobile users or home workers.

When employees leave a company, and their access to wireless hasn't been managed, then the risk of them causing problems through unauthorised access is significantly increased.

Wi-Fi roaming and Bluetooth are other risks, with many users leaving their devices Wi-Fi roaming and Bluetooth-enabled. This leaves them vulnerable to attacks resulting in access to the devices and the company network, particularly if authentication is not strong enough.

If your organisation is using unencrypted wireless in the office, all the information held on your network can be at risk. If your existing solution supports WPA2 or even the discredited WEP encryption, switch it on (it will have arrived with the default off). It is a good idea to encrypt all relevant confidential files, data, internal e-mails and network attached storage (NAS).

Encryption (including laptop and smartphone encryption) The easiest and most effective way of stopping sensitive and critical data being read by unauthorised personnel or outsiders is to encrypt it.

Loss or theft of data stored on laptops or smartphones is a particular problem. However, this can be easily and inexpensively protected using comparatively low-cost encryption software for laptops from companies such as Pointsec, Utimaco and PGP, and specific mobile security software for smartphones.

The use of unified encryption management (UEM) means encryption can be easily managed across all data risk areas including desktops, laptops, PDAs, USB sticks, mobile phones and other removable media.

* Converged systems security Security convergence is different from normal data security, because the link between phone systems and the Internet makes both voice and data more vulnerable to problems such as toll fraud and the total loss of both voice and data communications, if VoIP is hacked. However, there are security products available specifically tailored for a unified communications (UC) environment. These include solutions from Sipera, Panasonic and Samsung.

* Cloud computing/hosted systems security If you put your network into the cloud or use hosted systems, then you are making someone else responsible for your security and need to ask your supplier a number of questions. These could include:

- what security and authentication procedures are in place for remote staff access? - how is data secured against leakage?- what protection is there against DDoS attacks?- how can you guarantee your staff won't access my company's data? - what is the service level agreement for availability and what is the recourse if it is breached? - in what jurisdiction is my data held and stored?

4. MULTI FUNCTIONAL SOLUTIONS

UTMsUnified threat management systems (UTMs) are designed to provide a range of security solutions in a single appliance, reducing costs and simplifying the whole process of security systems management and installation. The minimum requirement for a UTM is a firewall, VPN, anti-virus and intrusion detection/prevention. Some UTMs may also provide anti-spam, web content inspection spyware protection, centralised management, monitoring, and logging capabilities.

XTMsExtensible threat management systems (XTMs) are a development of UTMs, which combine fast throughput with advanced networking features to handle high-volume traffic. They are suitable for 50-10,000 or more users.

Popular UTM and XTM solutions include those from WatchGuard, Check Point, Fortinet, Barracuda Networks and NetASQ.

Web Application Firewalling (WAF)Web application firewalls apply rules to HTTP (essentially web server and browser) conversations. This is sometimes also known as deep packet inspection (DPI). Dedicated devices are available such as SecureSphere from Imperva, ModSecurity (open source) and the Barracuda Web Site Firewall. WAF is also included in many UTM and XTM solutions.

A variety of other multi-functional solutions, incorporating various security product mixes, is also available from companies such as Kaspersky Lab, Symantec, McAfee and Computer Associates.

5. CONCLUSION The latest important IT security concerns include the increasing amount and variety of remote access, and the growing use of converged systems such as VoIP and smartphones. However, these and other ongoing security risks such as malware, fraud and data leakage, can all be adequately protected against with a strong commitment to security and the deployment of appropriate solutions.

THE AUTHORIan Kilpatrick is chairman of Wick Hill Group plc, specialists in secure IP infrastructure solutions for e-business. Ian has been involved with the Group for more than 30 years. Wick Hill is an international organisation supplying most of the Time Top 1000 companies through a network of accredited resellers. Contact www.wickhill.com, 01483 227600.

Ian looks at computing from a business point-of-view and his approach reflects his philosophy that business benefits and ease-of-use are key factors in IT. He has had numerous articles published in the UK and overseas press, as well as being a regular speaker at IT conferences.

RealWire is a global news release distribution service specialising in the online media. The RealWire approach focuses on delivering relevant content to the receivers of our client's news releases. As we know that it is only through delivering relevance, that influence can ever be achieved.

For IoT to grow as quickly as analyst firms’ project, a lot is going to fall on developers to quickly bring applications to market. But the lack of a standard development platform threatens to slow growth and make application development more time consuming and costly, much like we’ve seen in the mobile space.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Weiner, Product Manager of the Omega DevCloud with KORE Telematics Inc., discussed the evolving requirements for developers as IoT matures and conducted a live demonstration of how quickly application development can happen when the need to comply wit...

SYS-CON Events announced today that HPM Networks will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
For 20 years, HPM Networks has been integrating technology solutions that solve complex business challenges. HPM Networks has designed solutions for both SMB and enterprise customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Internet of Everything (IoE) brings together people, process, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before – transforming information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. IoE creates new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented opportunities to improve business and government operations, decision making and mission support capabilities.

Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy.
How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Red Hat's Chief Architect for the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems, described how to revolutionize your archit...

MuleSoft has announced the findings of its 2015 Connectivity Benchmark Report on the adoption and business impact of APIs.
The findings suggest traditional businesses are quickly evolving into "composable enterprises" built out of hundreds of connected software services, applications and devices. Most are embracing the Internet of Things (IoT) and microservices technologies like Docker. A majority are integrating wearables, like smart watches, and more than half plan to generate revenue with APIs within the next year.

Growth hacking is common for startups to make unheard-of progress in building their business. Career Hacks can help Geek Girls and those who support them (yes, that's you too, Dad!) to excel in this typically male-dominated world.
Get ready to learn the facts:
Is there a bias against women in the tech / developer communities?
Why are women 50% of the workforce, but hold only 24% of the STEM or IT positions?
Some beginnings of what to do about it!
In her Opening Keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Sandy Carter, IBM General Manager Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, and a Social Business Evangelist, d...

In his keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream, discussed the evolution of the company from inception to its recent acquisition by EMC – including personal insights, lessons learned (and some WTF moments) along the way. Learn how Virtustream’s unique approach of combining the economics and elasticity of the consumer cloud model with proper performance, application automation and security into a platform became a breakout success with enterprise customers and a natural fit for the EMC Federation.

The Internet of Things is not only adding billions of sensors and billions of terabytes to the Internet. It is also forcing a fundamental change in the way we envision Information Technology. For the first time, more data is being created by devices at the edge of the Internet rather than from centralized systems. What does this mean for today's IT professional?
In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed this very serious issue of profound change in the industry.

Discussions about cloud computing are evolving into discussions about enterprise IT in general. As enterprises increasingly migrate toward their own unique clouds, new issues such as the use of containers and microservices emerge to keep things interesting.
In this Power Panel at 16th Cloud Expo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed the state of cloud computing today, and what enterprise IT professionals need to know about how the latest topics and trends affect their organization.

It is one thing to build single industrial IoT applications, but what will it take to build the Smart Cities and truly society-changing applications of the future? The technology won’t be the problem, it will be the number of parties that need to work together and be aligned in their motivation to succeed.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jason Mondanaro, Director, Product Management at Metanga, discussed how you can plan to cooperate, partner, and form lasting all-star teams to change the world and it starts with business models and monetization strategies.

Converging digital disruptions is creating a major sea change - Cisco calls this the Internet of Everything (IoE). IoE is the network connection of People, Process, Data and Things, fueled by Cloud, Mobile, Social, Analytics and Security, and it represents a $19Trillion value-at-stake over the next 10 years.
In her keynote at @ThingsExpo, Manjula Talreja, VP of Cisco Consulting Services, discussed IoE and the enormous opportunities it provides to public and private firms alike. She will share what businesses must do to thrive in the IoE economy, citing examples from several industry sectors.

There will be 150 billion connected devices by 2020. New digital businesses have already disrupted value chains across every industry. APIs are at the center of the digital business. You need to understand what assets you have that can be exposed digitally, what their digital value chain is, and how to create an effective business model around that value chain to compete in this economy. No enterprise can be complacent and not engage in the digital economy. Learn how to be the disruptor and not the disruptee.

Akana has released Envision, an enhanced API analytics platform that helps enterprises mine critical insights across their digital eco-systems, understand their customers and partners and offer value-added personalized services.
“In today’s digital economy, data-driven insights are proving to be a key differentiator for businesses. Understanding the data that is being tunneled through their APIs and how it can be used to optimize their business and operations is of paramount importance,” said Alistair Farquharson, CTO of Akana.

Business as usual for IT is evolving into a "Make or Buy" decision on a service-by-service conversation with input from the LOBs. How does your organization move forward with cloud? In his general session at 16th Cloud Expo, Paul Maravei, Regional Sales Manager, Hybrid Cloud and Managed Services at Cisco, discusses how Cisco and its partners offer a market-leading portfolio and ecosystem of cloud infrastructure and application services that allow you to uniquely and securely combine cloud business applications and services across multiple cloud delivery models.

The enterprise market will drive IoT device adoption over the next five years.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, John Greenough, an analyst at BI Intelligence, division of Business Insider, analyzed how companies will adopt IoT products and the associated cost of adopting those products.
John Greenough is the lead analyst covering the Internet of Things for BI Intelligence- Business Insider’s paid research service. Numerous IoT companies have cited his analysis of the IoT. Prior to joining BI Intelligence, he worked analyzing bank technology for Corporate Insight and The Clearing House Payment...

"Optimal Design is a technology integration and product development firm that specializes in connecting devices to the cloud," stated Joe Wascow, Co-Founder & CMO of Optimal Design, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City.

SYS-CON Events announced today that CommVault has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. A singular vision – a belief in a better way to address current and future data management needs – guides CommVault in the development of Singular Information Management® solutions for high-performance data protection, universal availability and simplified management of data on complex storage networks. CommVault's exclusive single-platform architecture gives companies unp...

Electric Cloud and Arynga have announced a product integration partnership that will bring Continuous Delivery solutions to the automotive Internet-of-Things (IoT) market. The joint solution will help automotive manufacturers, OEMs and system integrators adopt DevOps automation and Continuous Delivery practices that reduce software build and release cycle times within the complex and specific parameters of embedded and IoT software systems.

"ciqada is a combined platform of hardware modules and server products that lets people take their existing devices or new devices and lets them be accessible over the Internet for their users," noted Geoff Engelstein of ciqada, a division of Mars International, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City.

Internet of Things is moving from being a hype to a reality. Experts estimate that internet connected cars will grow to 152 million, while over 100 million internet connected wireless light bulbs and lamps will be operational by 2020. These and many other intriguing statistics highlight the importance of Internet powered devices and how market penetration is going to multiply many times over in the next few years.

The concept behind the Internet of Things has been around for a while now, ATMs being some of the first enterprise, hardened, network-connected, managed devices for mainstream consumer use. So too with our mobile phones, these are not new concepts to network technicians or hardware geeks. But for the rest of us, we simply never imagined the extents that the "ubiquity of connectedness" would take all other industries, from biotech to automotive, personal care to agriculture, entertainment to custom manufacturing. The list is as long as our imaginations.

Business and IT leaders today need better application delivery capabilities to support critical new innovation. But how often do you hear objections to improving application delivery like, "I can harden it against attack, but not on this timeline"; "I can make it better, but it will cost more"; "I can deliver faster, but not with these specs"; or "I can stay strong on cost control, but quality will suffer"? In the new application economy, these tradeoffs are no longer acceptable. Customers will abandon your brand forever for a slow response or a privacy breach; competitors will steal critical ...

Learn how the IoT Cloud will power the world of tomorrow and why managing IoT through the cloud is as important as cloud computing itself. Learn how the devices of tomorrow will work on business models that reflect a new business strategy and a way to consume services.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ian Khan, Manager, Innovation & Marketing at Solgenia, will discuss how powered by the cloud and made possible by high tech manufacturing, sensors and devices with one way and even two way ability of control will devise a new IoT Cloud enabled world.

JavaScript is primarily a client-based dynamic scripting language most commonly used within web browsers as client-side scripts to interact with the user, browser, and communicate asynchronously to servers.
If you have been part of any web-based development, odds are you have worked with JavaScript in one form or another. In this article, I'll focus on the aspects of JavaScript that are relevant within the Node.js environment.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become the next “be all to end all” in information technology. Touted as how cloud computing will connect everyday things together, it is also feared as the real- life instantiation of The Terminator’s Skynet, where sentient robot team with an omnipresent and all-knowing entity that uses technology to control, and ultimately destroy, all of humanity.

We Need a Holistic Network Infrastructure: Why Controllers Are Not Cutting It
For years, we've relied too heavily on individual network functions or simplistic cloud controllers. However, they are no longer enough for today's modern cloud data center. Businesses need a comprehensive platform architecture in order to deliver a complete networking suite for IoT environment based on OpenStack.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Dhiraj Sehgal from PLUMgrid discussed what a holistic networking solution should really entail, and how to build a complete platform that is scalable, secure, agile and auto...

Digital Transformation is the process of updating your business and IT infrastructure to align with today's and tomorrow's consumers. Today that is important, but hard to do. Mobile consumer behaviors are changing far faster than most IT budgets and initiatives and that can cause problems. If your customers are adopting technologies and changing their path-to-purchase journeys at a pace that is faster than you can deliver, then you are opening up an opportunity gap for a more nimble competitor.

The multi-trillion economic opportunity around the "Internet of Things" (IoT) is emerging as the hottest topic for investors in 2015. As we connect the physical world with information technology, data from actions, processes and the environment can increase sales, improve efficiencies, automate daily activities and minimize risk.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ed Maguire, Senior Analyst at CLSA Americas, will describe what is new and different about IoT, explore financial, technological and real-world impact across consumer and business use cases. Why now?
Significant corporate and venture...

Sensor-enabled things are becoming more commonplace, precursors to a larger and more complex framework that most consider the ultimate promise of the IoT: things connecting, interacting, sharing, storing, and over time perhaps learning and predicting based on habits, behaviors, location, preferences, purchases and more.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Tom Wesselman, Director of Communications Ecosystem Architecture at Plantronics, examineed the still nascent IoT as it is coalescing, including what it is today, what it might ultimately be, the role of wearable tech, and technology gaps still in...

What if, during a snow emergency, an on-the-ground sensor could automatically trigger a relevant emergency notification related to snowfall and road impact. And then, after it’s triggered, that notification is delivered intelligently to individuals based on an extensive set of rules designed to alert the most available and capable responders.
This “what if” question about “smart highways” is short-sighted. We are already there, and we are only getting started. While mainstream attention is paid to machine-to-machine communications, new technologies are being developed to make these communica...

WebRTC: together these advances have created a perfect storm of technologies that are disrupting and transforming classic communications models and ecosystems.
In his session at WebRTC Summit, Cary Bran, VP of Innovation and New Ventures at Plantronics and PLT Labs, will provide an overview of this technological shift, including associated business and consumer communications impacts, and opportunities it may enable, complement or entirely transform.

As organizations realize the scope of the Internet of Things, gaining key insights from Big Data, through the use of advanced analytics, becomes crucial. However, IoT also creates the need for petabyte scale storage of data from millions of devices. A new type of Storage is required which seamlessly integrates robust data analytics with massive scale. These storage systems will act as “smart systems” provide in-place analytics that speed discovery and enable businesses to quickly derive meaningful and actionable insights.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Paul Turner, Chief Marketing Officer at...

A recent purchase of mine was a 2015 Jeep. Until now, I thought it was a safe and reliable car, but that is not the case anymore. As technology advances and cars become smarter and more technologically savvy, they become another target for hackers.
Imagine speeding down the highway, zooming past 18-wheelers, SUVs and coupes, when all of a sudden, your brakes give out and your speed increases. Instantly, you think what could be wrong with the car, you pump your breaks and check your dash and there is no sign of stopping. Instant panic washes over you and a fear of dread drowns out the honkin...

In the consumer IoT, everything is new, and the IT world of bits and bytes holds sway.
But industrial and commercial realms encompass operational technology (OT) that has been around for 25 or 50 years.
This grittier, pre-IP, more hands-on world has much to gain from Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications and principles.
But adding sensors and wireless connectivity won't work in environments that demand unwavering reliability and performance.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ron Sege, CEO of Echelon, discussed how as enterprise IT embraces other IoT-related technology trends, enterprises with in...

As much as I like to promote and evangelize mobile technologies and mobile commerce, it remains in its infancy.
My preliminary research reveals it is critical for a mobile retailer to know who is using a mobile application in order to maximize sales. This knowledge should then be used to present a customized mobile experience based upon the user's preferences and demographics. Even though consumers uniformly don't like the "idea" of vendors collecting data on them, they are happy to give it up in exchange for special treatment, discounts and deals as demonstrated by the high numbers of loy...

Cloud computing budgets worldwide are reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and no organization can survive long without some sort of cloud migration strategy. Each month brings new announcements, use cases, and success stories.